That doesn’t tell the whole story, though. The Akamai numbers show how fast traffic is moving on its network, not how much of it there is. So having, say, super fast connections in gaming centers and clusters of homes with gigabit class connections can skew the rankings.

The top three countries have a high proportion of people living in large apartment blocks concentrated in core urban areas (albeit very big cores – Seoul and Tokyo are immense). Which makes modern fiber deployments relatively cheap on a per household basis. Doesn’t mean the people living in buildings along the route all subscribe, although many do and that pulls average speeds up in Asia.

Despite lower population densities, North America still leads on a per capita consumption basis, and is expected to do so for some years to come, at least according to Cisco’s projections. 50 year old coaxial cables and 100 year old telephone wires are there and are well used, albeit not at gigabit speeds. Compared to world population as a whole – rural and urban – the state of the Internet in North America looks a lot better than many critics believe.

That’s not to advocate relying on ageing plant going forward. As wireline incumbents pull back on rural service, focus capital in “high potential” urban markets and try to exploit monopoly/duopoly positions for as long as possible, North American advantages will quickly fade. It’s no cause for panic, but it’s good justification for independent and broadband investments, public and private, based on realistic and rigorous financial criteria.

About Steve Blum

Steve Blum is president of Tellus Venture Associates, a management, planning and business development consultancy for municipal and community broadband initiatives. He is a 30-year industry veteran and an expert in developing new broadband infrastructure and services, including wireless, fiber optic and satellite systems.
His career includes playing key roles in the launch and growth of DirecTv in the U.S., as well as other satellite broadcasting platforms around the world. For the past ten years, he has helped build municipal wireless and fiber optic broadband systems. His client list includes many California cities, such as San Leandro, Palo Alto, Oakland, Los Angeles, Lompoc and Folsom. He’s a member of the executive team for the Central Coast Broadband Consortium and has worked with other regional consortia in California.
Steve is the author of seven books on the Internet and satellite broadcasting and is a frequent contributor to professional journals and industry events. He holds an A.B. in History from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.A. in East Asia Studies from the University of Washington, and an M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas. He is a triathlete and multiple Ironman finisher, and is currently ranked in the top 100 of the Challenge Triathlon world rankings, out of more than 30,000 athletes.